Bulworth (R, 1998)

Warren Beatty co-wrote, directs, and stars in this cracked political fairy tale about the eponymous Bulworth, an incumbent California senator running to keep his seat in Congress. An old-school 1960s liberal, Bulworth has tacked to the right on everything from affirmative action to health insurance for the poor to secure high-powered conservative campaign contributors. In this world, the Democratic Party lacks a soul. So Bulworth goes out and gets some soul -- black soul. Alternately rapping, swearing, and hitting on young Nina (Halle Berry), Bulworth lays out the facts of his political life. "I've got to raise $10,000 a day every day I'm in Washington. I ain't gettin' it in South Central," he says in strained ghetto cadence. "I'm gettin' it in Beverly Hills. So I'm votin' in the Senate the way they want me to and I'm sendin' them my bills. But we've got babies in South Central dying as young as they do in Peru. We've got public schools that are nightmares. We've got a Congress that ain't got a clue!"

As political satire, BULWORTH is as subtle as a hit man and as outlandish as a drag queen. What's fun about it is Beatty's commitment to the part and the ideology. He's willing to be the clown and plays it well. And there's certainly something thrilling about seeing him babble at the prospect of kissing Berry. But for all of the film's entertainment and supposed truth-telling, there's something profoundly irritating about a satire that's so smug in its omniscience and so toothless in its bite.

Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: Warren Beatty
Cast: Halle Berry, Kimberly Deauna Adams, Warren Beatty
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 108 minutes
Theatrical release: October 12, 1998
DVD release: March 16, 1999
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: profanity, sexual situations.